Melanie Sellers, enrolled in the Birth-Kindergarten licensure program, was selected as the 2024 UNCG Student Teacher of the Year. Sellers completed her student teaching at WNCSource Children’s Center in Hendersonville, N.C.
Sellers will now represent UNC Greensboro at the upcoming Student Teacher of the Year state competition sponsored by the North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NCACTE).
Following 14 years working as a Certified Nursing Assistant, Sellers decided to make a career change. After a friend encouraged her to apply to work at a local childcare center, she did and fell in love with the job. A few years into this new role, Sellers made the switch to Head Start and the NC PreK program.
Sellers had earned an associate’s degree, but wanted to become licensed in early childhood development and education. Her advisor recommended her to investigate the program at UNCG.
“I had asked what school would challenge me and help me grow as a professional and she said UNCG would be that school for me,” said Sellers. “I have grown immensely since beginning at UNCG and I am forever grateful to all the professors that have pushed me to become the educator and leader I am today.”
When thinking about her time as a student teacher, Sellers recalled working with a student who was learning the English language and how he grew and “came out of his shell” during that process.
She added, “Another favorite memory was our small group learning experience where we used tree artifacts to create the letters found in our names. This truly highlighted interdisciplinary learning that was active, multimodal, and fun!”
Sellers will continue to work as an NC PreK teacher in Henderson County, saying, “I am looking forward to continuing to grow as I implement strategies I learned during my student teaching assignment.”
